Ra Ra Riot Interview

While their UK tour, Ra Ra Riot played a gig in Newcastle on the 14th of Februrary, and I had the chance to catch up with the cello player Alexandra.
When Alexandra was three years old she started to learn how to play the cello. She never saw herself to become a part of a rock band, and now she is enjoying that very much. A rare thing abut her is that she plays the cello standing up, which I asked her about, in the beginning this was hard and she brought a cinder block along to support her leg. Sitting down she felt like she was not having as much fun as the others, and she would “look dumb either way”.Ra Ra Riot formed a bit more than 3 years ago, they met at University in New York, but are from all over the east coast (New York, New Jersey, Maine, and Massachusetts). I wanted to know where the strange name, Ra Ra Riot, came from. In their beginning they did not have a name for the band, and needed one for their first gig; one of their friends had a name without a band. The name was meant to be temporary, but it still is their name. They like traveling a lot as it is fun. Their success in the UK isn’t massive, but it is present. The great thing about people in the UK is that they come out to the gigs even if they have never heard of the band, just because they have such great love for music.I am a big fan of Tokyo Police Club, so I had to ask Allie about the Ra Ra Riot’s remix of “Juno”. She told me that they had a lot of fun working on the remix, something that they had never done before. They covered with the strings and then added in a couple of electronic sounds.
Currently Alexandra is into into Midlake, who have a bit of a Fleetfoxes vibe going on. Besides that she really likes Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, The Police, she listens to a lot of classical music. Lately she has grown rather fond of music from the 20s, and 30s. Even if a lot of people don’t like them she quite likes the new Kanye West, and Britney albums.If she would be at home and not on tour Allie would most likely be in the kitchen cooking with her family, listening to music or watching Law & Order, or maybe she’d be walking the dogs.

Interview by Solveig Werner


Ra Ra Riot Interview - NSR by Solveig

Innerpartysystem Interview

I interviewed the Philadelphia band Innerpartysystem before their sold out gig at Academy 2 in Newcastle on February 2nd.
I started the interview by asking how they met up. In their eyes it was an uninteresting story as they met in school. When Pat (the singer) started writing songs, they decided to form a band. Initially they got into music thanks to their family members (3 generations!). Innerpartysystem is such a long word, which caused me to bring up the question where it comes from. And of course it comes from “1984” by George Orwell, their only literary influence. When I listen to ISP I tend to wonder what exactly this music is. In their eyes or maybe ears they are not: Salsa, classical, and definitely not metal, but they are electronic rock, dance music, most of all they see their music as POP music.
When I brought up the difference with the local music scene, which features Dr. Dog and Man Man and many more, they just said that they simply don’t fit in anywhere. Today they are a different band then when they were on the first day. These days they don’t fuss about who they do shows with, as long as it is a huge, and good show, but they would really like to play with the Gorillas. Momentarily it would take them a lot to go out and see a band.
As I am a bit nosy I wanted to know what is the best thing about being in a band. For them the most fun things are that they get to play awesome shows, travel and meet crazy people. But most of all for them it is the being IMMATURE. They “fuck around a lot”, wearing ripped clothes, not showering for days (5 or so). Being in a band is “a ticket to be such a looser”. And they do not have to get up early.
But being in a band isn’t just easy and fun, it comes with challenges. For them they are playing the best shows they possibly can, before the tour it was making the best record possible. When on tour their equipment tends to break, not making their life easier. As a band they really live hand to mouth, some of them don’t even have bank accounts anymore. In their eyes it must cost about $5000 a month just to breathe. The record label does not care about them eating, it is only interested in the band selling albums. Another hard thing for them is self-discipline, getting up to write when at home for a week.
Lately they have been listening to: Adam Sky, Bjork, Bloc Party, Bon Jovi, Death Metal, Jazz, Jimmy Eat World, they don’t listen to Old County (ok Johnny Cash they are cool with), or Opera. When asked whom we should stay on the lookout for they mentioned following bands: Paper Route who they toured with, and are a more electronic version of Coldplay, or could be said to be a different form of Band of Horses. 3Oh!3 who are going on their first UK tour opening for Katy Perry, which will most likely boost their popularity. And finally Friendly Fires who don’t really need a shout-out, but ISP really like them.

Interview by Solveig Werner

Innerpartysystem Interview by Solveig

White Denim Interview 16/11/2008

I caught up with White Denim at the start of the British leg of their European Tour, at The Cluny!

Christian: So how did you guys first get together?

White Denim: Our old bands, Parque Touch (Josh, James and Lucas) and Peach Train (Steve) played together back in 2005 and Lucas got Steve in on bass. Then Lucas moved to Russia and we changed our name to White Denim.

Christian: Who would you cite as your main influences?

White Denim: We’re all really into Captain Beefheart, Jimi Hendrix Experience, XTC, Stevie Wonder and all that kinda stuff.

Christian: If you could learn a new instrument for the next album what would it be?

White Denim: (James) I’ve always wanted to play tenor sax or maybe a sitar

Christian: When I caught you in Bristol you were so energetic, any secrets on this?

White Denim: Coffee’s a big thing for the band. I think maybe a lack of energy we have throughout the day in our tour contributes though. It’s only really those 40mins while we’re on stage that we really move. So it all kinda builds up throughout the day.

Christian: Any tips or advice for the students of Newcastle and Northumbria University?

White Denim: Just try to finish, because it gets tough. I don’t know I think going to class always helps, 3 years into university I figured that out.

Christian: Any wild stories you want to tell of previous experiences in the U.K?

White Denim: Chicken fights where Steve (bassist) lost his wallet, that was a big one. In Nottingham there was some nonchalant throwing up. In Glasgow actually one of us threw up in a box, only to find it had been taken a few hours later.

Christian: Next time you’re in the U.K are there any bands you aspire to tour with?

White Denim: There are a lot of great bands, a well established band like Stereolab would be good. Or Rob Wyatt would be cool to play with, if he’ll have us.

Christian: Which bands should be checking out at the moment then?

White Denim: Dirty Projectors are a great band. Harlem are another band, they’re from Austin and haven’t had too much exposure yet.

Christian: Complete the sentence, you should be in a band because….

White Denim: James: You learn a lot about yourself when trying to write music

Josh: It makes you better at maths

Steve: There aren't enough good bands out there, we need more.

Christian: Thanks for the chat White Denim

White Denim: Thanks alot.

Tourdates

I caught up with Jarrod from the up-and-coming London based music website to check out Tourdates’ benefits for us and how we can contribute all the way from Newcastle.

E: What were your motivations for starting the website?

J: We came up with the idea in 2001 from being frustrated musicians ourselves, and seeing how we and others had little chance of exposure when we were unknown. This was before blogs, of course.

E: So how does it work?

J: It’s like myspace, but without profiles of cats, dogs and pole dancers! It’s just all about the music.

E: What can we do on it?

J: As it works similarly to myspace, it’s like a music community for bands and listeners- bands can add their gig dates, mp3s and videos, and everyone can have their own music blog.

E: So… how does it differ from myspace?

J: We have transposed the form of the website into free zines in London called ‘London Tourdates’, of which 35,000 copies are distributed weekly. Although this is currently restricted to the capital, we are hoping to expand the magazines out of London in the future and get all our online content published. As well as this, the music plays continually when you are on the website, not breaking off when you are searching through the sites pages as on myspace.

E: Has it been successful so far?

J: Yes, 7000 unsigned bands are now featured from being online just seven months. The influences of the unsigned bands direct the users to artists with similar influences, so unsigned bands are made massively available to users. We have had 1.5 million visitors since the start.

E: What other features does the site have?

J: It has an Unsigned Chart [check out here!] which we are eager to expand awareness of. It is created genuinely, from plays and download numbers, instead of the commercial marketing of the real charts. Our RSS feed helps to expose this top 40 to as many people as possible, so real talent can be discovered from it.

E: What are your future plans?

To expand the website further afield, and also get more bloggers- anyone can sign up and if we like their writing they can be promoted to featured writers and get published in the magazines!

Kid Carpet

As an artist who comes from Bristol, us lot in Newcastle haven’t been exposed very much to the toy-instrument playing, sleeve-tattoo wearing Ed Patrick, or as better known as disguised in his acronym, Kid Carpet. I caught up with him post-US Election day to talk Daniel Johnston, Dan le Sac and the Europeon Song Contest.

E: How would you describe your sound, in a sentence?
KC: Disco-punk-standup-fall down-music. Casino keyboards, small battery operated lightweight devices...


E: Wow, why did you get started with playing these instruments?
KC: Simple enough reason really; so I don’t get a bad back! I can walk to a show, and there is no need to hire a van.

E: What about the sound they produce?
KC: Yeah- they work well, because I’m no maestro guitar player so it made it easier for me.

E: So with this sort of unique sound and bizarre use of instruments, it surely would hard to pin-point what your influences are…
KC: Well, not wanting a job and not wanting to be on the dole.

E: What about music wise?
KC: Ah music- The Kinks, Daniel Johnston… [An inspiring solo artist from America who has severe mental health problems]… I like the solo organ and singing, but I’m obviously not a manic depressive

E: Ever seen the elusive player himself?
KC: Yeah I saw him in London once, it was amazing! Me and my friends kept shouting out for him to play “Speeding Motorcycle” and he ignored us for a while, then shouted back [at this point he re-enacts Daniel’s emotion-ridden voice] “I don’t play speeding motorcycle anymore!”

E: On another note, you recently toured with Dan le Sac, how was that?
KC: Amazing, they were lovely people to hang out with and had perfect audiences for my style of performance- primed for spoken word and for partying. I’m prone to telling stories and babbling between songs, and because they were used to the spoken style of Dan le Sac it didn’t faze them in the slightest.

E: Ok, back to the gadgets, how do they work in live performance?
KC: Well I’m sometimes prone to knock things over and batteries will fall out, but I’m not a technical wizard so I can’t sort it out!

E: I heard a rumour that you applied to the Eurovision song contest last year, is this correct?
KC: Well I had a song I thought would win so I applied to Slovenia, Andorra, a couple of other places- they didn’t go for it.

E: Aw shame, did they even get back to you?
KC: Er, no!

E: That’s unfortunate! Just one final question- I hope you are considering coming to Newcastle again soon?
KC: Yeah, I hope so too! I will be touring again in late February, March.

If Kid Carpet is anything as good as he sounds, his performances will be incredible; so don’t miss him next time around!

Eliza Lomas

Florence and the Machine Interview

3.11.08 The Other Rooms

Louise Morris & Kate Edwards

L: How do you feel about becoming successful coincidently at the same time as other musicians from your school, Alleyns? (Jack Penate, The Maccabees)

F: Yeah loads of people from Alleyns have gone on to be really successful, I see Jack all the time.

L: They used to put up all the news releases about them on the school notice boards

F: No way, that’s weird

L: Your lyrics are quite dark and interesting and I wondered where you got the inspiration for them from?

F: Like nightmares and fairytales and having a bit of a twisted imagination. Like a lot of the time I can’t sleep and nightmares keep me awake.

L: Did you have an imaginary friend or anything like that?

F: I actually had a seagull

L: What was its’ name?

F: It didn’t really have a name it just attacked people in my class that I didn’t like...but I didn’t have an imaginary friend. I had lots of imaginary games that go on every day like, when you like have all these magical powers and you’d end up laying on a trampoline and one of those powers would be flying, but then you go down again then up again and down again really quickly, so you’d be flying.

L: Your song Donkey has an odd sense of ancient folk tales and morality stories: Do you ever read folkloric tales to inspire you?

F: Grimm’s fairytales always really affected me as a kid um, like fairytales always have really...even The Little Mermaid; the original is really

L: horrible

F: Yeah really horrible she dies and becomes...

L: Sea foam

F: That’s it she’s sea foam! She’s so heartbroken she just...expires and dissolves. I think a lot of fairytales have a much darker reading. I mean think about Bambi, Jesus Christ, [getting more animated] like wasn’t that one of the first Disney films ever made and the mother shot, brutally...

L: quite traumatising

F: And you know the Lion King, Mufassa...I mean I saw that in America when I was quite a bit younger and I remember having to be taken out of the cinema crying. Death and retribution in Disney films

K: Those feelings like that almost make you want to recreate them...

L: Twisted fairytales

F: Yeah, I guess so [more pensively] just I think its a way of explaining what’s going on internally in a visual way, it’s like taking it all and making it into a fantasy world which makes it a bit easier to handle.

L: You did a cover of Cold War Kids and I was wondering what is your favourite cover done by a band?

F: I think... [mutters] what’s my favourite cover?..Oh, I think Fucked Up did a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s Since You’ve Been Gone and [starts death metal-esque screaming] SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GOOONE!

L: If you could have a gig absolutely anywhere, with no limitations, where would you have it?

F: I’d just like to do it in a gigantic cathedral, I think that would be amazing, or in a big cave, one of those huge caves with loads of stalactites and stalagmites, and there’d be loads of candles everywhere and lights and stuff, so it would be like when people have those weird ceremonies in caves, like..Uh in Mexico when they bring all those people into caves and have weird rituals and ceremonies and decorate them and shit...

K: So it’s more like an experience?

F: Yeah, yeah... [drifts off into thought]

L: Like Union chapel in London

F: Yeah, actually I’m doing a gig there soon

L: I went to a gig there recently and they had an interval when you could get cakes

F: Cakes...yeah, we don’t give people food.

L: Would you like to make gigs a little more retro with extras?

F: I don’t want to give people food. I don’t think that’s good, I wanna make people sick.

L: So, living in London do you find that there’s a real community of singer/songwriters around you?

F: Everyone knows each other, it gets confusing..It’s like a bit doo der doo der der, sometimes you have to step out of it, it can get a bit..Like if you’re doing a festival season and you see everyone back stage and you’re all like “Hey, hey” but no one can really remember each others’ names...well me.

L: What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done in that situation?

F: ooh, just really me not remembering people’s names. There was a rumour going round, it was a rumour, that I couldn’t remember one of the girls from Ipso Facto’s names so I cried!

L: Oh!

F: Well it was, I didn’t cry...i think i did get really embarrassed...it’s cos i’ve met her four times [whispers] fucking hell. I felt so bad, but I didn’t cry [laughing]. ..And they all look exactly the same.

L: I’ve noticed you’re a big fan of dressing up and costumes...

F: Yeah I like dressing up

L: What have you dressed up as recently?

F: Oh God I was dressed up as a sort of gypsy sea monster...but I don’t really choose something to dress up as, it just sort of, things come and I wear them and it sort of creates an outfit [now speaking in a deliberately posh accent] of its’ own accord.

L: What did you wear for Hallowe’en?

F: I went in a clown suit, unsurprisingly, yeah. But it was because I’d been wearing it all day and I had to go to a party so just went as I was.

L: Are you nervous at all, as this is your first headline tour?

F: I was really nervous when I came on tour but it’s kind of been getting easier, I think you just learn to become a bit desensitised. Its’ really cool though, I’ve enjoyed it.

L: And you like to provoke a strong reaction from your audience?

F: Yeah, it was really great yesterday.

L: I saw you at the Shoreditch music festival...and I was the girl who passed out in the front row...so you did provoke quite a strong reaction!

F: Oh no, I’m so sorry

L: Don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault, it was just really hot that day and I just conked my chin on the bar and fainted into the crowd

F: That’s proper rock’n’roll. Were you carried out?

L: I was caught luckily! So that kind of winds this up, apart from; what are your influences?

F: Disney films: The death of Simba’s father in The Lion King. It was nice to meet you again.

L: You too, good luck with the gig!

Reemer Interview – Newcastle Metro Arena. Saturday 8 November

If gongs were handed out for enthusiasm, then Reemer at the start of their first major tour would win easily. I caught up with the band at the Metro Arena before the second night of the tour with McFly.

Bassists Max, drummer Dan, guitarist Nick and singer Dave are holed up in their dressing room doing rounds of press interviews, however spirits are high. The band’s ringleaders Nick and Dave explain that there is great buzz about the tour and it is an “amazing experience” even though it is only the second night. Max is the listener of the group- gauging the conversation and then weighing in with a crafty comment or funny line. Dan on the other hand is the nub of the jokes- he said so himself. On being asked who the worst dresser is the band agrees than Dan is the answer. Dan amusingly agrees promoting Nick call him a hero and then sadly admit he is the least hygienic of the group. The band continue in this fashion throughout the interview, regaling stories about Nick being willingly tied to tree for an hour by the others or that he also owns a lovely pair of mousse slippers (which I had taken from the tour bus and presented to him) . This openness between the member rubs of on everyone around- nevertheless, as a band they are together, focused on their goal of being bigger than Busted.

There is a great unity between them stemming from their time at school together. However, the band only formed four years ago, along the way there have been fights with the band admitting “this is the first time they’ve seen” each other since the previous night- with tongue firmly in check.

Manchester is home for the band is big influence on where they are coming from. They are fans of the Manchester music scene especially the Ting Tings. For them they what they aspire to be- “alternative poppy vibes” which is “accessible”. Nick explains “its good healthy competition” and “you can’t helped but be inspired” by what is happening in Manchester and across in Liverpool. Quizzed whether they could beat The Wombats in a fight, the band come over all timid saying they are “soft” and The Wombats would win. When asked about the sports scene in Manchester, Max slinks off- Nick wades in with “Jean Claude Van Damme’s is your (Max’s) biggest sporting hero and acting hero” to much laughter. Although playing Newcastle this evening, the gig in Manchester is the big one for them- the sense of expectation is massive even though the gig is not for a few weeks.

Despite it only being the second night of the tour, the band has found McFly to be “horrid” which is quickly retracted and that actually they are “one big family”. Nick quips that “it’s only the second date, they’ve got be nice”. Sadly because it only the second night they have not got any dirty on the McFly boys, however they said they “would come back” to us when they tour next February. As the conversation continues, we hear the sound of girls screaming as the McFly tour bus arrives. They all admit they want the success although they want the girls behind the fence or iron gates- yet more of Reemer’s humour and general japery roars around the room.
Tea drinking is name of the game for Reemer along with bisect eating and frazzles crisps. There are no airs and graces, just four lads at the start of a magical mystery tour into showbiz, girls and music.

George McSorley